> What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful (I am talking about real > tear-jerkers here) piece of:
I can only think of one piece of music off the top of my head.
James MacMillan: Cantos Sagrados.
As I was thinking about this, I discovered that my own personal sense of fulfillment in a piece of music doesn't necessarily come from emotional impact. Ironic, since that's one of my first considerations when starting a new piece.
> What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful (I am talking about real > tear-jerkers here) piece of:
> 1) music (any genre, type or category) > 2) choral music > 3) piano music
I can't say they're the "most beautiful," but here are some things that call forth an emotional reaction in me, maybe because of some long ago experience associated with it. (Pardon me if I misspell something.)
Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto, all 3 movements Asa's Death from the Pier Gynt Suite Some ballads written during WWII. "I'll Be Seeing You," etc. Sospiri Op. 70 by Elgar Bill Evans's "Turn Out the Stars" "When I Lost You" by Irving Berlin
> What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful (I am talking about real > tear-jerkers here) piece of:
> 1) music (any genre, type or category)
Beethoven, Symphony in E-Flat Major, Second movement. This is what God requests when heroes enter heaven. Done right, when the horns enter with the ascending melody there should not be a dry eye in the house.
> 2) choral music
Thompson, Alleluia. Written during one of the darkest times of the 20th century it acknowledges the horror of war, but never gives up hope. A lot of mileage on two words.
> What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful (I am talking about real > tear-jerkers here) piece of:
> 1) music (any genre, type or category) > 2) choral music > 3) piano music
> Cheers
1) Eleanor Rigby. The words are heart breaking. 'All the sad and lonely people, where do they all come from.'? 2)Handel's Messiah 3)Chopsticks. Sounds daft maybe to some but it's a composition that grabs children, they learn it and pass it on.
bradleyburg...@webmail.co.za (Bradley Burgess) wrote in message <news:e9c83056.0402151129.b925aba@posting.google.com>... > What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful (I am talking about real > tear-jerkers here) piece of:
> 1) music (any genre, type or category)
I prefer orchestral music more than anything else, but it's hard to pick the "most" beautiful piece. So I'll just list my favourites - Debussy's afternoon of a faune, stravinsky's rite of spring, and gershwin's rhapsody in blue.
> 2) choral music
Don't like choral music.
> 3) piano music
Just solo piano piece? Bach's WTC and Debussy's preludes and images. Though WTC is not really piano music.
Bradley Burgess wrote: > What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful (I am talking about real > tear-jerkers here) piece of: > 1) music (any genre, type or category)
Faure: Pavane Gorecki: Symphony No.3 Antony & the Johnsons: Twilight Barber: Adagio for Strings Badalamenti: Love Theme from Twin Peaks Tindersticks: Tiny Tears Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
> 2) choral music
Mozart: Requiem Howard Blake: Walking in the Air
> 3) piano music
Vangelis: Memories of Green Ketil Bjornstad: selections from "Epigraphs", "The River"
> Bradley Burgess wrote: > > What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful (I am talking about real > > tear-jerkers here) piece of: > > 1) music (any genre, type or category)
Cello Concert of Shostakovitch with Yo-Yo Ma Bachianas no5 Villa-Lobos - 1st part Leningrad Symphony of (again) Shostakovitch Symphony no. 2 Gustav Mahler
> > 2) choral music
Mozart: Requiem Mozart: Ave Verum Mozart: Requiem Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem Bach: Mattheus Passion
> > 3) piano music
Chopin: All four Scherzi Gershwin: Preludes Darius Milhuad: Saudades do Brasil
CHORAL Rachmaninov's Vespers (especially "Bogoroditse devo" or something like that)
Arvo Part's "Litany"
ORCHESTRAL Mahler's 5th Symphony, Adagietto movement
Arvo Part's Fratres, especially the version for solo violin, string ensemble + percussion -- I saw the philadelphia orchestra play this last year and it was one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen
Depending on your sense of beautiful, Morton Feldman's "Coptic Light."
Beethoven's 6th Symphony, especially the Allegretto movement
OTHER Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" on the "Grace" album.
Tom Waits "Fawn" off the CD "Alice." Purely instrumental, but very tender and beautiful in a typically Waitsian sort of way. If you're looking for tear-jerking as in "sad," try Tom Waits "A Little Rain" or "November."
chris.
"Bradley Burgess" <bradleyburg...@webmail.co.za> wrote in message
> What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful (I am talking about > real tear-jerkers here) piece of: > 1) music (any genre, type or category) > 2) choral music > 3) piano music
#2 is easy. It's "Sourp Sourp (Holy Holy), Divine Liturgy" by the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir, from _Sacred Treasures III_.
When my mother fell seriously ill, I made her a compilation CD of the most beautiful, peaceful classical music I could find. This piece was playing in her room at the moment she passed away.
The piece is incredibly beautiful in its own right; but as you may imagine, now that it has that particular association for me, I can't hear it without getting choked up.
> What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful (I am talking about real > tear-jerkers here) piece of:
music that has made me cry through its beauty-
> 1) music (any genre, type or category)
Radiohead- several songs off of their last 4 albums. T.V. Sankaranarayanan (Carnatic-Vocal) TOOL- Lateralus (not so much for its aesthetc qualities but for its cerebral and spiritual ones)
> 2) choral music
Durufle's Requiem- BY FAR- IMHO to be the most beautiful work ever created. Mozart's Requiem
> 3) piano music
I did cry once to the theme of the Golberg Variations when I saw the movie 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould, also there are the Brahms Ballades and Intermezzi (also played by Glenn Gould)
Verdi: La Traviata Rigoletto Il Trovatore Puccini: La Boheme Strauss: Salome Ariadne auf Naxos Der Rosenkavalier (especially the final trio) Chopin: Waltzes, Mazurkas, Ballades Mozart: Don Giovanni JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto #3 in G (perfect music) Organ Preludes and Fugues Monteverdi: Il Coronazione di Poppea Michael Praetorius: Dance music Johannes Ockeghem: Requiem Guillaume DuFay: Secular chansons
Here is the hands-down winner. Once you become familiar with the nuances of this particular performance, you will be sobbing each time you listen. Chee Yun is incredible. The accompanist is Akira Eguchi and he does a terrific job.
Vocalise, op. 34, no. 14, Sergei Rachmaninov From the CD: Vocalise - Violin Show Pieces Chee Yun, Akira Eguchi (accompanist)
It is one of my favorite CDs. It is a collection of violin showpieces and encore pieces, and they are all beautiful. This link has some audio samples (not CD quality unfortunately - the CD sounds much better).
